By Janelle Miles and Jessica van Vonderen, ABC
Some supermarket shelves in Brisbane were bare on Friday. Photo: ABC News
Some supermarket shelves have been stripped of stock as south-east Queensland prepares for the onslaught of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which is forecast to cross Australia's coast on Thursday or Friday.
Queenslanders are heeding warnings to stock up on essentials, such as bottled water, batteries and bread, leaving shelves bare in shops across the south-east.
Premier David Crisafulli has warned millions of south-east Queenslanders they should prepare to be without power and water supply.
"The message to the supermarkets is restock the shelves as much as you can, and to Queenslanders, it's heed the warning and buy what you need," Crisafulli said.
"It is important that people have sufficient food and water, and I understand why Queenslanders want to do that. It's important for supermarkets to do their bit as well."
Covid-style panic buying
But Coles's Queensland general manager Joanne Brown has raised concerns about a repeat of Covid-19 panic buying after customers started rushing to supermarkets to stock up on groceries ahead of the cyclone.
Some shops say toilet paper has been disappearing fast, mirroring pandemic panic buying.
Brown reassured Queenslanders the supermarket had "large amounts of stock" in the state to replenish shelves.
David Black picked up extra supplies to prepare for Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Photo: ABC News / Jessica van Vanvonderen
"There's no need to worry about stock shortages," she told ABC Radio Brisbane.
"Because we're in Queensland, we are quite accustomed to dealing with severe weather events."
Brown said the supermarket's distribution centre at Redbank, west of Brisbane, was equipped to handle the increase in demand.
"As people went out and started stocking up this morning, we could see those numbers and we already ramped up that distribution centre," she said.
"It can actually cope with supplying other states and we don't even blink.
"We are pushing more stock into stores to make sure people stocking up can get what they need.
"There is no shortage of food or water in Queensland."
Woolworths has placed temporary limits on the purchase of bulk water, reducing customers to two packs per transaction.
The retail giant's Brisbane Regional Distribution Centre (BRDC) will receive an extra 1,400 pallets of stock on Wednesday, including large amounts of bottled water.
"We're increasing the amount of key products such as pasta, rice, soup, nappies, baby food and formula, milk, and frozen vegetables being sent to stores," a spokesperson said.
"Additional supplies of water, bread, and other pantry essentials are being delivered to our Brisbane Regional Distribution Centre, which will then be sent to stores across the regions.
"We will continue to work closely with the local and state governments and authorities to ensure we can continue to support local communities as much as possible."
Newmarket resident David Black went to the shops to buy some extra toilet paper along with his normal groceries.
"Just preparation in case things run out because we've heard there's panic buying already," he said.
Black said his daughter rang him this morning and "couldn't believe the amount of people walking out with trolleys of toilet paper and water".
Food for five to seven days
South-east Queenslanders are advised to ensure they have enough bottled water and non-perishable food for five to seven days, including pets.
They should have batteries for torches and a portable radio and backup batteries for mobile phones.
Parents should stock up on baby formula and nappies to get them through the weather emergency and people are also advised to have enough medication available.
Automated teller machines and EFTPOS will not work in a blackout so Queenslanders in the cyclone impact zone should have some cash on hand.
If Alfred makes landfall, as expected, later this week, it will be the first cyclone to cross the southern Queensland coast in half a century.
-ABC
